Gaining Ground: In Pursuit of Ecological Sustainability

In principle, the ongoing loss of species can still be greatly reduced or curtailed.  But in order for that to happen, we need a new conservation paradigm.  That paradigm must acknowledge the lessons of history, the realities of the present, and what can be anticipated with reasonable certainty in the coming decades.  It also must cope with inevitable and inescapable uncertainties in a prudent and precautionary manner.

That message and the thinking behind it is the subject of a new book, co-authored by participants in an international forum organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the University of Limerick, in June 2004.  The book, Gaining Ground: In Pursuit of Ecological Sustainability, contains 26 chapters written by a variety of conservationists, spanning the fields of conservation biology, fishery science, wildlife biology, ethics, economics, engineering, and the social sciences. The authors come from such diverse places as Australia, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, India, and the United States.  The contents should be of interest to all conservationists, including academics, undergraduates and graduate students, educators, wildlife managers, policy makers, and all people concerned about the current state of the planet and the human condition, and our attempts to achieve ecological sustainability.